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The TLDR Counterculture Movement
The TLDR Counterculture Movement, led primarily by Zorg, was the shift of TLDR from its traditional 2005 RPish raid culture to a more laid back, cynical posting attitude that would define and shape TLDR for the rest of history. Background Throughout 2005, especially in pre-Emma War times, TLDR had had a rich culture of grandstanding, RPing, and unhindered forum patriotism (perhaps best illustrated by the TLDR Flag). This culture was primarily led by a poster named HellPenguin, who referred to himself as a "general" and had led and orchestrated many forum raids, including the Emma raid itself. Thanks to a core group of conservative 2005 posters, this attitude had persisted into 2006, even despite the paranoia and effective end of forum raiding as a result of the Emma War. The Shift However, in 2006, TLDR saw a surge of new posters, many of which were completely ignorant of TLDR's past and reacted negatively and cynically to the ridiculous grandstanding and RPing that was carried out by 2005 posters, Zorg and Chopsticks beeing among the most outspoken critics. Additionally, 2005 posters themselves, who had declined rapidly in population since the "glory days", looked upon newer posters as "noobs", often treating them with disdain for not having lived through events like the Emma War and the TLDR Civil War. This shift in demographics would set the stage for a complete collapse and inversion of TLDR's culture. The Death of Raiding According to some, raiding was already long-dead on TLDR even before the end of 2005, as the Emma War had caused widespread paranoia and fear. Since the end of The TLDR Civil War, Hellpenguin's posting rate had also begun to drop significantly as he had started to convert to normalism, and he was mostly absent from TLDR in the first half of 2006. Instead of being effortless like they had been on the early TLDR, raids against other forums had begun to become increasingly difficult to organize, especially without the aid of HellPenguin, and many of them were either completely ineffective or didn't happen at all, causing a demoralizing effect. .]]This was perhaps best demonstrated by the underwhelming Emma Redux, which occurred exactly a year after the original Emma raid and was supposed to represent a rebirth of traditional TLDR culture, with HellPenguin himself returning from retirement to rally the troops. After weeks of planning, RPing, and effort, although carried out without any major hitches, the raid was ultimately a flop, causing nothing like the original hysteria and carnage among the Emmaphites of the original Emma raid. Although it wasn't the last conflict with other forums, it was the last major public, forum-wide effort to raid in an organized manner. Pursuing Other Interests The community had increasingly begun to be drawn more inward as new traditions and hobbies spread among its posters. Chief among these was the increased popularity of DotA, which was so prevalent that it caused temporary forum death when in-house games were being played. The community rerolled together in WoW as well, forming the first TLDR WoW guild, Snakes on a Tabard, on (((SOMEONE FILL IN WHAT SERVER THIS WAS))), the first of many successful TLDR rerolls. Effects TLDR was never the same after the counterculture movement. Although 2005 is still thought of as the "good old days" by older posters, this attitude is mostly ironic. Over time, the gulf between modern and 2005 TLDR has only widened as the posting population of TLDR has changed from hyper-aggressive, angsty, hormonal teens to laid-back neckbearded adults. The floodgates of irony and cynicism that were unleashed during this period would eventually lay the groundwork for The Meta Ages. Category:History